Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine receives $3 million investment from Humana to create a physician scholarship

Humana is collaborating with the Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine to fund scholarships to address the healthcare worker shortage in the area.

The insurer has made an investment of $3 million in the Humana Health Workforce Scholarship Fund that will pay the entire tuition fees of medical students who have joined XOCOM. The aim, according to the partners, is to attract the best talent in Louisiana and retain them to work in healthcare in the Pelican State.

XOCOM was formed in 2024 as a joint venture between Xavier University of Louisiana, a historically Black college, and Ochsner Health, a Gulf-based provider. Leonardo Seoane, who is the founding dean of XOCOM, informed Fierce Healthcare that Louisiana and other Gulf area states tend to rank among the worst states in the country in terms of patient outcomes.

The need to overcome that hurdle led to the unification of Xavier and Ochsner, and Humana has a local heritage that has incorporated it within the company. The company also funds scholarships at Xavier in physician assistant, and also frequently employs its pharmacists, according to the president of insurance at Humana, George Renaudin, in an interview.

Renaudin claimed that he has a family history in Louisiana that dates back to taking charge of the Medicare program in Ochsner Health Plan, acquired by Humana in 2004. When XOCOM was announced, that was what necessitated his approach with regard to the possibility of collaboration.

It is not a relationship partnership, Seoane said. “They are actually very deep-rooted relationships between Xavier University and Humana and the health system, Ochsner Health.

In a similar case, Humana, in 2018, collaborated with the University of Houston to establish the Humana Integrated Health Systems Science Institute and, in particular, to explore how the concept of population health programs can be incorporated into medical education. The attention of the insurers to value-based care will as well contribute to its relationship with XOCOM.

The students will qualify for the scholarship by establishing the financial need, and by providing a commitment to work in primary care, internal medicine or maternal care in Louisiana after their graduation. An example provided by Seoane is that this allows medical students in the rural regions of the state to practice medicine in the rural regions, which are frequently underserved, and patients face the most extreme access difficulties.

According to Renaudin, there is ROI in projects such as this to a health plan since the payers themselves are not mostly in the business of care delivery, and depend on quality providers in the areas where they operate. It is a major investment in the health of members of the markets to ensure that the patients of those markets are well-established with high-quality networks in which they can seek care.

It is, in fact, in this case, very much a long-term investment in the health of the state, which, in fact, has nothing to do with how we respond to any particular business need, but the fact that we know through a value-oriented prism that access to care will be more and less costly over a period of time.

Seoane indicated that the value orientation theme in Humana and Ochsner is prepared to have a future since the partners are deliberating how to adopt that into the curriculum or graduate education experience to attract medical students at an earlier stage.

The scholarship is a necessity in itself because medical students can be immensely in debt as they attend school, but the scholarship can also be increased down the line, as well, he said.

He said that they know they require more primary care, but they should also train a physician who is familiar with value-based care, and they are in the unique position to do so.

Renaudin also wrote that both Humana and XOCOM are optimistic that the collaboration would be able to be used as a model to unite payers with providers in similar projects.

It is one of the initiatives, I believe, that is a big step in the right direction and many of its components, to attempt to make a change in the healthcare system to provide better health results to the Louisiana and, consequently, the people.

Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine Receives $3 Million to Expand Physician Scholarships

Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine has received a $3 million investment from Humana to establish the Humana Health Workforce Scholarship Fund that will support incoming medical students and help expand the physician workforce across Louisiana.

Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine has received a $3 million investment from Humana to create a new scholarship program aimed at supporting aspiring physicians. The scholarship fund will help students at Xavier Ochsner pursue medical education while reducing financial barriers, ensuring that talented individuals can focus on training to meet the growing healthcare needs in Louisiana.

Humana’s support for Xavier Ochsner is part of a broader effort to strengthen the physician workforce in underserved areas. Students who receive this scholarship at Xavier Ochsner will have the opportunity to practice in communities where healthcare access is limited, helping to improve overall patient care and public health outcomes.

By partnering with Xavier Ochsner, Humana is investing in the future of medical education and encouraging more students to enter primary care and other high-demand specialties. The scholarship initiative highlights the important role Xavier Ochsner plays in preparing skilled physicians who are ready to serve Louisiana’s diverse populations.